Athletics 6, Rangers 5: Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: the Rangers had a big lead and the A’s came back late to win it. Stop me if you’ve heard this one: Khris Davis was the hero, hitting two late homers — a three-run shot in the seventh and a two-run shot in the ninth — to bring the A’s back from a 5-1 deficit. Davis now has 27 homers on the year. According to the AP gamer, he has more homers than anyone in baseball since the start of the 2016 season — 112 to Giancarlo Stanton‘s 109. Bet you didn’t know that. Oakland has won 26 of 33 and, having taken three of the first four in this series, have now won 10 of their last 11 series, with the other being a split. They’re only one and a half games behind Seattle for the second Wild Card and six and a half behind the Astros, with a record of 60-43.

Rockies 3, Astros 2: Charlie Blackmon hit a walkoff homer to give the Rockies the win. Carlos Gonzalez hit an earlier homer and Jon Gray was sharp, allowing only one hit over seven innings, yet someone allowing two runs too. It was a weird game, as the Rockies scored their tying run on a pop foul and, Some controversy here, though, as Alex Bregman thought he hit a triple to lead off the sixth, but on replay it was ruled that a fan — wearing Astros gear, if you’re curious — reached out and touched the ball, altering its trajectory. That’s fan interference and rather than have a potential insurance run on third base with no one out, Bregman was called out. He didn’t like the call at all. You decided for yourself:

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My guess is that Parra does not make that catch but, yeah, the fan did touch the ball.

Mets 6, Padres 4: Clayton Richard retired his first 12 batters on 36 pitches and enjoyed a 2-0 lead into the fifth, as the Mets appeared as though they’d just roll over in the series finale. Then they decided to wake up, however, as Kevin Plawecki, Phillip Evans, and Amed Rosario all hit RBI singles to give the Mets the lead. Jose Bautista then hit a two-run homer in the sixth and, I’ll be damned, the Mets won a series for the first time since late May.

Rays 3, Yankees 2: Scheduled starter Nathan Eovaldi was traded before the game so the Rays did what they do a lot of the time: threw out a bunch of bullpen arms, did some unconventional stuff, and got pretty good results, holding the Yankees to seven hits and, for the third straight game, no homers. Come October a lot of people are gonna beef about a presumably 100-win Yankees team having to play in a Wild Card game and just how unfair that is, but the Yankees are 6-6 against the Rays this year and 5-5 against the Orioles. If you can’t take care of your business in the division, well, though crap, enjoy your Wild Card game.

Reds 7, Cardinals 3: Eugenio Suarez homered for the third straight game — a first inning two-run shot — and Tucker Barnhart and Adam Duvall hit homers of their own. Sal Romano allowed two runs on seven hits over six innings and then got his bing break directing the commercial for the new weight loss cola, Patio. Sadly, however, the client did not like the “Bye-Bye Birdie” concept, so it was back to the drawing board, literally, for poor Sal. The Cardinals left 11 men on base.

Phillies 7, Dodgers 3: Everyone was tired after the previous night’s 16-inning marathon, but Scott KingeryRhys Hoskins and Carlos Santana were less tired, with the former two homering and the latter hitting a three-run triple to lead the Phillies. Jake Arrieta (allowed two earned runs on five hits in six innings. Barring these teams meeting in the postseason — and assuming then that he would be on the Dodgers’ postseason roster — it was Chase Utley‘s final bow in Philadelphia. He went 0-for-3 but everyone will remember the standing ovations more.

Tigers 8, Royals 4: Jose Iglesias hit a three-run homer, Victor Martinez had three hits, driving in a couple and Matt Boyd allowed two runs over six innings. Mike Moustakas had two hits, including an RBI double, in what might have been his final home game for the Royals given that he’s on the trading block. Danny Duffy may or may not be traded himself, but he didn’t shine like his teammate did, allowing seven runs on nine hits in five and two-thirds.

Cubs 2, Diamondbacks 1: Jon Lester allowed one run over six innings, striking out seven. He didn’t outduel his opponent, Robbie Ray, who likewise allowed only one run and went an inning longer, but the Snakes fell anyway thanks to a couple of throwing errors in the eighth inning which allowed the Cubs to score the go-ahead run.

Twins 12, Blue Jays 6: Minnesota blew a three-run lead in the eighth inning that ended up sending it to extras but they made up for it with a six-run eleventh inning. Max Kepler drove in the tie-breaking run when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and after that the conga line kept moving. Mitch Garver went 4-for-6 with a homer and five RBI and Joe Mauer had three hits and three RBI. Ervin Santana made his season debut — he had surgery on his finger back in February — allowing three runs and seven hits in five innings.

Mariners 3, Giants 2: Ryon Healy hit his 21st home run of the year and Jean Segura hit an early sac fly and a late chop single to put the M’s ahead. Mike Leake and Derek Holland were each effective, allowing a couple of runs over six and six and a third, respectively.

Angels 11, White Sox 3: Mike Trout, Albert Pujols and Shohei Ohtani all homered — Trout homered twice, actually and Pujols’ was a milestone dinger — as the Angels cruised thanks to nine runs in the middle innings. Tyler Skaggs had nine strikeouts in six innings. His first five Ks came against the first five batters he faced. Pujols even stole a base in this one. Third base, in fact. Did it standing up too, as the Sox’ pitcher was clearly paying zero attention to him whatsoever:

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Red Sox vs. Orioles — POSTPONED:

Rain down, rain down
Come on rain down on me
From a great height
From a great height, height
Rain down, rain down
Come on, rain down on me
From a great height
From a great height
Rain down, rain down (that’s it, sir, you’re leaving, the crackle of pigskin)
Come on rain down on me (the dust and the screaming, the yuppies networking)
From a great height (the panic, the vomit, the panic, the vomit)
God loves his childrean
God loves his children, yeah

Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that Oakland Athletics owner John Fisher has reversed course and will continue to pay minor leaguers. Fisher tells Slusser, “I concluded I made a mistake.” He said he is also setting up an assistance fund for furloughed employees.

The A’s decided in late May to stop paying paying minor leaguers as of June 1, which was the earliest date on which any club could do so after an MLB-wide agreement to pay minor leaguers through May 31 expired. In the event, the A’s were the only team to stop paying the $400/week stipends to players before the end of June. Some teams, notable the Royals and Twins, promised to keep the payments up through August 31, which is when the minor league season would’ve ended. The Washington Nationals decided to lop off $100 of the stipends last week but, after a day’s worth of blowback from the media and fans, reversed course themselves.

An @sfchronicle exclusive: A's owner John Fisher reverses course, apologizes: team will pay minor-leaguers; "I concluded I made a mistake," he tells me. He's also setting up an assistance fund for furloughed employees: https://t.co/8HUBkFAaBx)